Apparatus for lowering vessels&#39; lifeboats to the water with automatic disengagement of the suspension hooks



1,830,134 TER WITH USPENSION HOOKS No1'r.3, 1931.

C. SACERDOTI APPARATUS FOR LOWERING VESSELS LIFEBOATS TO THE WA AUTOIATIC DISENGAGEMENT OF THE 8 Filed JUILY 8. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 2 3 t m W 3m mm bflWW l e V e Nov. 3, 193L- -c. SACERDOTI APPARATUS FOR LOWERING VESSELS LIFEBOATS TO THE WATER AUTOMATIC DISENGAGEMENT OF THE SUSPENSION HOOKS Fil ed July 8, 19:50

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(Emi /Z0 I Ngv. 3; 1931; C.SACERD;OTI 4 APPARATUS FOR LOWERING VESSELS LIFEBOATS TO THE WATER WITH AUTOMATIO DISENGAGEMENT OF THE SUSPENSION HOOKS Filed July 8, 1950 3 Sh'e'ts-Shget 3 Patented Nov. 3, 1931 UJNJIJT En 'S'T'A'IZES' CAIMIILLQ snonnno'rr, or nAn, ITALY APPABA'IUSFORJDWERING VESSELS LIFEBOATS TO THE WATER WITH msnnenqn vrnnr on rim susr nns on I-IOQKS Application filed July 8, 1930, Serial No. 466,520, andin Italy July 16,- 1929.

The presentinvention relates to apparatus for permitting ships life boats to be lowered.

easily to the water and to insure. the automatic disengagement of the said-boats from the hooks by which they are suspended. Ac-v cording to the invention the following devices are provided:

(a) Devices to enableboats to be hoisted overboard and lowered to the water inone.

operation.

sure the said disengagement eveninthe case of a heavy sea or ofshipwreck whilst avoid-v ing all possibilityof any eventualaccidental.

rehooking.

(0) Devices to allow of easing the brake of the winch by which the boats are lowered to the water, so asto facilitate the aforesaid dis engagement in the manner to. be described later.

The invention is illustratedby way of; ex.-

ample only in the attached drawings.

Figs. 1 and 2 represent, diagrammatically, side views of twodifierent modes of carrying out the methods of the invention, the apparatus being placedin pairs, each pair. suitably spaced to correspond with the size of. each boat.

Fig. 3 gives a front view of thehookmg device which can disengage automatically but cannot rehook accidentally.

Figs. 4-5 show two side views of the device as in Fig. 3, designed to show its working, and show also two variations of one detail.

Fig. 6 gives a side view of a boat providedwith one of the members of the hookingdevice.

Fig. 7 represents a winch provided with its control members and which is more especially adapted to be applied with apparatus according to the invention though also serving for apparatus of other types.

Fig. 8 gives a detail of a device allowingthe easing of the brake of the winch in order to insure an extra unwinding of the ropes holding the boat after thishas touched the water,

inbrder. to facilitate and insure their. dis; engagement. 7

Fig. 9 shows, in perspective, the grouping. of the, apparatus shown in Figs. 134.-.7-.

Referringto Fig. 1, eachhoat, davitlis crescent shapedand has the lower. part.2 of the back toothed. The teeth2 engage with. those in an inclined rack 3provided in a' mem- I her. 11 mounted: on the ships deck. The davits 1- are guided so. as to be unable to. turn towards the, axial line ofthe vessel.

The boat lis hung by hooks attached to. ropes 7; Each ofthes'e ropes pass .over pjul leys 8.1nounted at theextremity ofthe .davit. 1, under. pulley 9 mounted in the elbow of the aforesaid davitand overa pulley 10 mounted; on .the member llirom which itgoes to wind; onthe drum of awinch 12. This'drum, dur ing lowering to thewater will besuitably braked by, any of the known .brake s, (hydrau: lic, mechanical, electro-mechanical, orother) The winch 12 can at the same time, serve both. davits to which each boat is hung, so that the. two ropes of the apparatus will be wound on. the same drum.

When the boat is hoisted on board the vessel, theteeth2 of; each davit 1 is'engaged; with the rock 3 atapoint 5 wherethe line frompoint 6, whence the boat is hung, forms an angle (a) with the' vertical. The. construction is. made to. that. amplitude. of thisv angle which satisfies the condition that the tendencyffor the boat. to descend towards the water. shall be, in action .even. when the vessel may beleaningover to one side. For..the reason, the angle (or) should be greater than thegreatest angle of inclination allowed the vessel, so that the centre offgravity. of-the boat is always outside the points 5 where the teethare engagedand. thus may be led completely over the side when the. ropesare allowed to run out. This insures the boatsbeing lowered to the water under. whatever conditions may arise. I

The'movement of the boat 4 from its position of. rest. on board the vessel (represented by full lines inthedrawing) to the outboard position (represented by hatched. lines) is automatically. produced, when the ropesv are slackened out; actually, slackening out the ropes allows the weight of the boat to act on the davits 1 in such a manner as to incline the tops out-board, because of the rolling of the toothed base 2 over the rack 3. Some form of stop, for example an arm 13, limits the movement of the davit 1. Continuing to slacker. out rope 7, it is possible to lower the boat to the water, it passing from position 4 to 4 at which latter position the automatic disengaging devices, to be described later when referring to Figs. 3 to 8, should come into action.

In 2, another method of construction is shown which satisfies the same principle. In this method also, the centre of gravity of the boat 4 first causes the inclination and movement of the davits outboard, and, afterwards, if one continues to slacken out ropes '2', the weight causes the boat to descend to the water. Each element of the pair of apparatus for hanging the boat 4 consists of an upright member (crane) 21 pivoted at 22 on a pivot fixed on the deck of the vessel 23; an arm 25 is pivoted at a point 24 towards the middle of the upright 21. Each of the ropes 27, having at its end a hooking device for the boat 4, passes over pulley 29 mounted at the upper extremity of the upright 21, under pulley 30 mounted coaxially with the pivot 24, and over a pulley 31 mounted on a pedestal 32 fixed to the deck of the vessel; finally the rope is wound on the drum of the control winch 33. The arrangement of the beams 21 and 25 is such that the angle made by the arm 25 with the vertical is large enough to insure the centre of gravity of the boat 4 being outboard relatively to the pivot 24 even when the vessel is inclined transversely at the greatest allowable angle. Whilst continuing to slacken out ropes 27, the arm 25 assumes the position 25 where it is held by any device whatever (for example a chain 34). )Vhen the arm has attained the position 25, shown by hatched lines, the line from the deck pivot 22 to the point of suspension 35 forms angle ([3) with the vertical. If one continues to slacken out ropes 27, the apparatus passes to its final position, represented by hatched lines 21 and 25 where it is held by any stop whatever, as, for example, a chain 36. At this point the boat commences to descend to the water, in the direction of the arrow 37. When the water is reached, the automatic disengagement of the boat is produced owing to the action of the devices of Figs. 3 to 8.

In both devices the boat is hoisted on board after reengaging, by hand, the hooks of the boats to those of the ropes by winding the ropes on the winch, either by hand or through the aid of any mechanical means.

In Figs. 3 to 6 the device is represented which is suitable to effect the automatic disengagement of the boat when placed in the water. This device includes a suspension member 41 hooked into an eye provided at the end of each rope. This suspension member has at its base an eye 42. A. specially shaped hook 44 is fixed in the boat, it being adapted to hook into the aforesaid eye 42.

The member (41-42) is fitted lowdown with two heavy masses 43 which project laterally and are adapted to hold the aforesaid member (4142) sufficiently steady. The hook 44, mounted in the boat, has on top, a crest 45 with an inclined front face shaped to work against an inclined plane fashioned in the member 41 in order to prevent the member 41 from falling over the back of the hook 44. Any turning over or lateral inclination of the member (41-42) is prevented by the lower counter veights which lower the centre of gravity considerably.

As seen by Figs. 34 and 5, a tongue 46 is pivoted at 47 at the lower extremity of the inclined portion of the hook 44, this tongue by its own weight (and possibly by the aid of a spring not shown) closes the opening of the hook so as to prevent any accidental reengagement of the ring 42 with the hook 44 after unhooking has been automatically efi ected. To engage the hook in the eye 42 it is necessary to displace by hand, the tongue 46 to the position shown by hatched lines in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows another form of fashioning the tongue 46 in which this is applied on the hook 44. It is pivoted at 47 at the base of the curve formed by the back of the hook 44 and provided with a counterweight 48 tending to hold it in such a posi tion as to close the hook. This counterweight might be replaced by a spring. Ivloreover, both in the arfangement as in 4 and in that of Fig. 5, one might add a spring to hold, flexibly, the aforesaid tongue 46 in the closed position.

In Fig. 6 a life boat is shown provided fore and aft with hooks of the type shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 shows a hoisting winch suitable to control the operations of lowering life-boats to the water and hoisting them on board. It is provided with means suitable for braking both when lowering and when hoisting the boat, and with means allowing the afore said brake action to be released when the extremities of the ropes should lower a little further to allow for the automatic unhooking by the aid of the devices as shown in Figs. 35 or of similar ones.

The application of a brake on the drum of the winch might be carried out by a centrifugal acting device of the following description. On a shaft 54 driven by a motor. an endless screw 56 is mounted engaging with a helical toothed wheel mounted on the shaft 57 of the winch drum. On the shaft 54 one of the extremities of a set of blade A friction disc is solid with the aforesaid sleeve, the disc working in connection with a shoe or brake block 61 the position of which is adjustable by means of the screw 62 mounted on a supporting arm. The springs are loaded with heavy masses 52. When the shaft 54 turns, the springs 53 and weights 52 as well as the sleeve 58 and disc 60 turn with it. From the centrifugal force generated, the weights 52 bend the spring 53 causing the sleeve 58 and the disc 60 to slide along the shaft 54 in the direction indicated by the arrow 59, so that the disc 60 rubs against the fixed brake block 61. The friction between the two members 60 and 61 gives the braking action. The springs employed in this arrangement may be substituted by a jointed parallelogram provided with springs tending to keep it in its position of rest, as in ordinary centrifugal governors. The shaft 54 may be coupled to a suitable motor through a ,1 coupling 63.

To lessen the braking action when the boat touches the water in order to allow the ropes to run out further and obtain automatic disengagement of the boat, a fly-wheel 64 is mounted on the shaft 54; its mass is suflicient to accumulate enough energy to produce an additional rotation of the drum after the boat floats on the water, thus allowing an additional unwinding of the rope sufficient to permit the aforesaid disengagement.

In Fig. 8 a device is shown adapted to antomatically regulate the braking of the winch. It includes a pulley mounted 'on a movable member held in equilibrium by a force antagonistic to the tension of at least one of the ropes by which the boat is hung,

for example by the action of a spring or coun- The pulley 71 is mounted on a terweight.

pivot carried by the bridle 75 solidly connected with a stem 76 provided with a means of attachment 78 and a shoulder 77. A helicoidal spring 79 presses against the aforesaid shoulder 77 and against a fixed beam 80 through which is a hole allowing free passage to the stem 76. The tension of the rope 7 37 4 tends to displace the pulley 71 in the direction of the arrow 72 which shows the resultant strain. The branch 7 3 of the rope leads to the hook from which the boat hangs while 74 goes to wind on the drum of the winch.

Pulley 71 and stem 76 are displaced in opposition to the action of the spring 79 when the tension of the rope 7 3-7 4 increases; they move in the direction contrary to the arrow 72 inasmuch as the said tension decreases. The displacements of the stem 76 may serve to control the brake action through any known suitable device.

When the boat floats and consequently ceases to strain the ropes, the spring .79 (or other equivalent opposing member) forces a movement causing a cessation of the brake action and allows a further unwinding of the ropes and disengagement of the boat.

The device shown in Fig. 8 can be employed to obtain the brake effect either by direct or indirect action of the stem on a brake mem ber of any type. Its use permits the elimination of the fly-wheel 64 employed in the case of Fig. 7. For that it is sufficient to arrange the device in such a manner that when the boat floats and ceases to strain the hanging ropes, the stem 7 6 moves, thus causing an easing of the brake on the winch either through direct or through indirect action on the members controlling the brake. The result of this will be to allow asupplementary lowering of the member 41-42 by a sufficient amount to insure the disengagement of the hooks 44 of the boat. (Fig. 4.)

In Fig. 9 is shown, by way of example only, a diagrammatic representation of a complete installation where the devices shown in Figs. 1-3 and 7 are employed. The boat 81 is hung from the davits 8283 mounted on the deck 88 of the vessel and shown in their out-board position. The ropes 8586 are wound on the drum of the brake-winch. The positions taken up by the apparatus when the boats are hoisted on board are shown in 8283'.

The combination of apparatus described enables life-boats to be lowered to the water and automatically disengaged in the most perfect manner; but each of these devices can be modified or substituted according to the needs of the case without departing from the scope of the invention.

That I claim is:

Apparatus for lowering life boats to the water from ships, comprising a davit comprising an upright member, an arm pivotally mounted on said upright member, a pulley mounted at the extremity of the arm, a second pulley on the extremity of the upright member, and a third pulley at the pivotal joint of the arm on said upright member; a support for the upright member fixed on the ship, said upright member being pivotally connected to said support, a pedestal fixed on OAMILLO SAGERDOTI. 

